Exercise Rewards
Illawarra Mercury
Wednesday July 18, 2007
Staying fit and healthy doesn't have to be a chore, KILMENY ADIE discovers. The secret is to simply make exercise fun, and tailor it to your specific needs.
When it comes to excuses not to exercise, Martha Lourey-Bird has heard them all.With two decades of experience as an exercise scientist under her belt, Lourey-Bird has committed her wisdom to paper in a new book Exercise and the F word ... Fun!."Through my work as an exercise scientist, adviser for Weight Watchers, as a lecturer at the University of NSW and also my involvement in the fitness industry I found ... so many people just don't realise the most important thing about exercise is to enjoy it," she says."My interest is not in fashions, but in a lifelong commitment."Lourey-Bird says she is a firm believer in practising what she preaches and the working mother with two young children says her theory is a simple one; of the time she spends seated, 10 per cent of that should be spent exercising."If I spend 450 minutes a day on my backside, well for 45 minutes I need to get up and be active," she says."And I don't mean sweating and excruciatingly painful stuff. I mean stuff that makes you physically active; parking further away. It's little strategies."One of Sydney's first female personal trainers, Lourey-Bird has worked with people such as Trent Nathan, Lisa Ho and Charlie Brown in Australia before working in facilities like the late Princess Diana's Chelsea Harbour Club and the Royal Berkshire Club.She explains that one of the biggest problems people face when starting exercise is their childhood memories of schoolyard sport."Exercise doesn't have to be a form of punishment, which is so often what people think," she says."Often people's experience earlier in life was a negative one; be it in the school gym or sport. This negative perception of exercise can be carried through life."Also, going to gyms is something that's not the most positive experience. It's intimidating and (may) send the wrong messages about exercise. Particularly if that person has struggled with their weight."In the book Lourey-Bird says she asked people to consider their stage of life or current focus - career, family, age - and work around that rather than thinking of it as an obstacle.For instance, she says, parents can exercise by taking their children to the park and playing games rather than trying to find the time to go to the gym.If music is your thing, invest in an Mp3 player or iPod to stay motivated or, if you enjoy the social side of sport, join a team."What I'm challenging people to do is to think differently and to put the enjoyment factor first," she says."Exercise by doing something different, get outside the square.""The easiest thing to do is to just walk out the door (up the street) for five minutes and then turn around and go back," she says."It's not about fancy equipment."Martha's tips for getting active:Don't just sit and chat on the phone. Move while you talk.At work make your workspace as inconvenient as possible so you have to move.Get off the bus one stop earlier and walk the extra distance.Do housework and gardening energetically and sweep or rake rather than using a leaf blower.Take the stairs rather than the lift and walk up escalators as they're moving.Stand and iron rather than sitting and watching TV.Get active when playing with children.Get up to change the TV channel or adjust the volume.Exercise and the F word ... Fun!Martha Lourey-Bird, $29.94. Insight Publications
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